METROPOLIS—CLEANSING OF PAVEMENTS.—QUESTION. (Hansard, 26 February 1875)

§ SIR WILLIAM FRASER

asked the Secretary of State for the Homo Department, What orders, if any, are given to the police as regards enforcing the cleansing of foot-pavements in the Metropolis; what steps are taken to enforce penalties against inhabitants for not obeying the Law; and, what means are used by the superior officers of the police to observe whether the constables do their duty? The hon. Baronet said, that owing to the snow-fall, they had, last Wednesday, a strong illustration of the inconvenience of the present system. There was understood to be a legal difficulty 984 in regard to uninhabited houses, and there was also some obscurity in the law with reference to the foot-pavement in front of the Royal palaces; but in so far as the mass of the inhabitants was concerned, there ought to be no doubt on this subject.

MR. ASSHETON CROSS

said, it was quite true that the Act of the 2nd & 3rd Vict. did impose upon the occupiers of house property in London the duty of keeping the foot-path swept and cleansed—a duty which probably some of them were not fully aware of. But then his hon. Friend asked him why the police did not do their duty by enforcing that law. His answer was, that there was no such duty imposed upon the police by the Police Act. This matter was some time ago questioned, and the opinions of very eminent lawyers taken, and they, having regard to the different sections of the Act, gave it as their opinion that there was no duty imposed upon the police to see that the law was put in force. He might add, however, that another Act of Parliament did, to a certain extent, impose this duty upon the district boards or vestries. What the police really did was this—they did not see that the foot-pavement in front of every house was swept; but they issued notices warning the people of what was required of them by the Act, and they placed their services at the disposal of the district boards or vestries if they chose to put the law in motion. By the law as it present stood, the duty did not devolve upon the police, in the first instance, of setting the law in motion. He some time ago gave instructions that every possible facility should be given by the police for putting the law in motion, but beyond that, he had no power to go.